Abby Sunderland, 16, is feared lost at sea today in her attempt to become the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate the globe.

A support crew lost contact with Abby, who was in heavy seas in the Southern Indian Ocean, early this morning.

Sunderland's brother, Zac Sunderland, said his sister's boat was clearly in trouble.

"The boat is most likely not completely submerged because there's another alarm that sends off a signal if it goes 15 feet underwater," Zac Sunderland said in an interview with Ron Kilgore of KNX radio in Los Angeles. "So yeah, she's pretty banged up out there right now, and [we're] just trying to get the rescue teams out."

Abby was in 20-25 foot waves at the time of last contact, with 35-knot winds, said MaryAnne Sunderland, who is due to give birth at the end of the month. She was shaken but focused on trying to get a rescue effort together.

The closest land to Abby's boat was Reunion Island, which is east of Madagascar. The nearest ship was 400 miles away. Rescuers were trying to contact the ship.

Zac Sunderland told KNX that the support crew was "still trying to figure out the rescue situation."

"There's two boats headed out to her position. One of them's an estimated 40 hours, the other is 48. So right now we're just trying to figure out if there's any way faster. She's in the middle of nowhere pretty much, in the Southern Indian Ocean, there's nothing closer.

"We're just hoping everything's all right out there. There's nothing we can really know for sure out there right now."

Jeff Casher, an engineer on Sunderland's support team, told ABC News that he last spoke with the 16-year-old sailor before 6 a.m. PDT, after she had been knocked down twice during the night because of strong winds -- meaning that her sail had touched the water.

One of those knock-downs, Casher said, ripped the radar off the boat. She had been speaking with Casher on a satellite telephone earlier because of engine problems and was in the process of fixing those problems when she told Casher she'd call right back.

She has not been heard from since, except for the distress signals.

Abby is approximately 500 miles north of the Antarctic Islands on her bid to become the youngest to circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat, solo.

Abby has been recording her trip aboard her boat, the "Wild Eyes," in a blog. In her last entry Wednesday night she said she had recently passed through "some rough weather... with winds steady at 50-45 knots with higher gusts."

"It was a nice day today with some lighter winds which gave me a chance to patch everything up," she wrote. "Wild Eyes was great through everything but after a day with over 50 knots at times, I had quite a bit of work to do."

The weather was getting rough again, she noted.

"The wind is beginning to pick up. It is back up to 20 knots and I am expecting that by midnight tonight I could have 35-50 knots with gusts to 60 so I am off to sleep before it really picks up," she wrote.

Abby's goal at the outset of her trip, to become the youngest sailor to pull off a solo nonstop circumnavigation, ended in April, when she was forced to stop in South Africa because her autopilot malfunctioned.

She still was bidding to become the youngest sailor to perform a solo circumnavigation.

(Article Continues...)

Hope she's ok. She's attempting something that's amazing for someone of any age, let a lone someone of 16 years. It's a very dangerous thing to do, but some people just like to push themselves mentally and physically.

Youth usually means inexperience which bears on judgment. To sail around the world at a very young age requires both, making it a more impressive feat. I'm not sure about the second question though. You should send her parents an email and find out.

She's too young. I think everyone who allowed her to go into this should be charged. Too young to drink, smoke, buy adult games or porn, not classed as an adult, yet can go off sailing the seas on her own. Retarded is what it is.She's too young to know any better as clearly shown. What next, 13 year old attempts to sail around the world? Really?

Originally Posted by http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100611/ap_on_sp_ot/lost_sailor_found

Teen sailor found alive and well
By JOHN ANTCZAK, Associated Press Writer John Antczak, Associated Press Writer
56 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – A 16-year-old California girl who was feared lost at sea while sailing solo around the world has been found alive and well, adrift in the southern Indian Ocean with rescue boats headed toward her, officials said.

After a tense 20 hours of silence, a Qantas Airbus A330 search plane made contact with Abby Sunderland late Thursday in the south Indian Ocean where her boat was knocked down repeatedly by huge waves and she lost satellite phone contact.

Qantas Airline spokesman Tom Woodward said the teenager was spotted half way between Australia and Africa and the plane crew spoke with her by radio.

"Abby's in an okay condition; the yacht's damaged but its seaworthy," Woodward told The Associated Press. "She's aware that there are other boats on the way to her location."

Sunderland told searchers she was doing fine with a space heater and at least two weeks worth of food, family spokesman William Bennett said.

Support team member Jeff Casher said the boat had gotten knocked on its side several times and the mast had broken.

The French regional administration on the island of Reunion also confirmed contact, which occurred Friday in that region of the Indian Ocean, and said it had sent three boats in her direction, the first expected to reach her on Saturday.

The communication with Sunderland was the first since satellite phone communications were lost and her emergency beacons began signaling early Thursday.

She had made several broken calls to her family in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and reported her yacht was being tossed by 30-foot (9-meter) waves.

The 11 observers aboard the plane, which left the western Australian city of Perth early Friday, spoke with her by close-range VHF marine radio, western Australia state police spokesman Senior Sgt. Graham Clifford said, adding that the crew couldn't drop her anything.

He said the jet faced a 4,700-mile (7,600-kilometer) round trip from Perth to Sunderland's boat, which is near the limit of its range.

Abby's family and support team had expressed confidence that she was alive because the beacons were deliberately turned on rather than set off automatically.

"She's got all the skills she needs to take care of what she has to take care of, she has all the equipment as well," said brother Zac, himself a veteran of a solo sail around the world at age 17.

But renowned Australian round-the-world sailor Ian Kiernan said Abby should not have been in the southern Indian Ocean during the current southern hemisphere winter.

"Abby would be going through a very difficult time with mountainous seas and essentially hurricane-force winds," Kiernan told Sky News television.

Conditions can quickly become perilous for any sailor exposed to the elements in that part of the world.

Her brother said Abby was prepared and mentally tough. "I really wish I could see her and hope she gets through this one," he told reporters outside the family home.

Abby last communicated with her family at 4 a.m. local time (7 a.m. EDT, 1100 GMT) Thursday and reported 30-foot (9-meter) swells but was not in distress, Pinkston said.

Casher said Abby had to make repeated calls with her satellite phone because of sketchy connections. He said she had been in rough weather and had a problem with her engine, which she eventually managed to start. The team then asked her to check other things on the boat.

"She hung up to go check some things and she never did call back," he said.

An hour later the family was notified that her emergency beacons had been activated, and there was no further communication.

A lifelong sailor whose father is a shipwright and has a yacht management company, Abby set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey in her 40-foot (12-meter) boat, Wild Eyes, on Jan. 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping. Her brother briefly held the record in 2009.

Abby soon ran into equipment problems and had to stop for repairs. She gave up the goal of setting the record in April, but continued on. On May 15, Australian 16-year-old Jessica Watson claimed the record after completing a 23,000-mile (37,000-kilometer) circumnavigation in 210 days. Jessica and her family sent a private message of hope to Abby's family, spokesman Andrew Fraser said.

Abby left Cape Town, South Africa, on May 21 and on Monday reached the halfway point of her voyage.

On Wednesday, she wrote in her log that it had been a rough few days with huge seas that had her boat "rolling around like crazy."

Information on her website said that as of June 8 she had completed a 2,100-mile (3,400-kilometer) leg from South Africa to north of the Kerguelen Islands, taking a route to avoid an ice hazard area. Ahead of her lay more than 2,100 miles (3,400 kilometers) of ocean on a 10- to 16-day leg to a point south of Cape Leeuwin on the southwest tip of Australia.

This reminds me of that gay movie preview I keep seeing before Inception where Zac Effron has to choose between some hot girl and his dead little brother. Seriously. He is conflicted between hanging out with the ghost (I guess) of his dead brother and some hot girl who has ambition. Obviously a chic flick because any guy would realize that there isn't enough conflict in this to make a movie. Sorry bro, but you're dead.